Study
The Struck Rock and the Battle with Amalek
Typology · Doctrinal study

The Struck Rock and the Raised Hands

Water from a smitten rock, victory beneath uplifted hands, and the Saviour both events point to.

Theologica Editorial12 min read
The Account

Is the LORD Among Us, or Not?

Israel had seen the plagues, walked through the sea, and eaten bread from heaven. Then they camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink (Exodus 17:1). Some six hundred thousand men, with their children and cattle, stood in a desert with nothing to drink (Exodus 12:37–38).

They turned on Moses. Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? Moses cried to the LORD, they be almost ready to stone me (Exodus 17:3–4). God's answer was not judgment. It was water.

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.”EXODUS 17:5–6 · KJV

Moses took the same rod he had used to strike the Nile, struck the rock in front of the elders, and water poured out. He named the place Massah and Meribah, meaning testing and strife, because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not? (Exodus 17:7).

Then Amalek attacked. Moses sent Joshua to fight in the valley while he went up the hill with Aaron and Hur, holding the rod of God (Exodus 17:8–10).

“And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.”EXODUS 17:11–13 · KJV

God told Moses to write the battle for a memorial in a book (Exodus 17:14), and Moses built an altar and named it Jehovahnissi, meaning “the LORD my banner” (Exodus 17:15). The victory was the LORD's.

Elsewhere in this series

Moses looks at the man himself, including the price he paid at the second rock. Joshua, who first appears in this chapter, has his own study, and so does the manna God gave the chapter before.

Loading the rest of this article

Further reading

For Deeper Study

  • Gleanings in ExodusAmazon Arthur W. PinkA detailed typological exposition of Exodus, with full chapters on the smitten rock and the battle with Amalek. Pink wrote as a Calvinist and sometimes presses details further than we would.
  • Notes on the Book of ExodusAmazon C. H. MackintoshA nineteenth-century Plymouth Brethren classic that reads the wilderness journey as a picture of the believer's life in Christ. Warm and Christ-centered, though at times it finds more in the details than the text states.
  • Moses and the Gods of Egypt: Studies in ExodusAmazon John J. DavisA conservative evangelical study of the whole book by a longtime professor and president of Grace Theological Seminary, helpful on the history and geography of the wilderness journey.
  • The Study of the TypesAmazon Ada R. HabershonA classic 1898 introduction to the Old Testament types, including the rock in the wilderness.
  • Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.

As an Amazon Associate, Theologica earns from qualifying purchases.

Continue exploring

Moses

Prophet, deliverer, and mediator, Moses pointed beyond himself to the Prophet like him whom God would raise up, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is counted worthy of more glory than Moses.

Open Doctrine